Business News for 21st July 2011 :: Watford Business Against Crime

Pauline O’Brien, who manages the scheme concentrated first on improving the scheme for existing members before trying to bring new members on board.

She said:

“The temptation when taking on the job of running a self-financing scheme like this is to immediately try to increase membership so that the scheme generates more income.

“But the product the Chamber inherited wasn’t a good one – the scheme lacked some fairly standard features such as a comprehensive banning system. And without these basic tools, a business crime reduction partnership cannot succeed.

“Once improvements to the scheme were made and existing members were happy, then I looked to increasing membership. But I’ve never been motivated by the bottom line, it just isn’t central to the success of the scheme.

“Infact, as soon as income did start to increase through a rise in member numbers, I dropped the cost of membership by a massive 25% in order to support businesses through the recession.”

Gaining the practical support of Watford Borough Council and Hertfordshire Police is the latest success story for the scheme.

Although the council and the police have always advocated WBAC, both have recently stepped up their practical support for the scheme.

Now, the anti-social behaviour co-ordinator works with the WBAC manager, and the police are now incredibly proactive in their role in running the Exclusion Order Scheme (WBAC’s banning system).

If you’re a member of the Chamber and you’re based in Watford, you can join Watford Business Against Crime for free.